Finding Reno
by Feebee-Weebee
Summary: COMPLETE. Can Cefra save Reno before its too late? SLOW STARTING, SORRY!
1. Prologue 1 Tseng's Story

Tseng's Story.

The woman who usually ran the day-care centre had gone on a long awaited, and much deserved holiday. Her temporary replacement was a young, serious woman who was working with very young children for the first time. She remembered the looks of the suspicious mothers as they dragged the screaming toddlers through the brightly painted doorway. They didn't trust her with _their_ little darlings. She put on her best smile, and tried to recall what the other woman had said.

"Now, Kume is a bit of a biter, and he may bully the other children a little, so when you scold him, try not to stand too close. Jas, poor little thing, her mother's just had the eighth one, so she's not that well looked after. Her head is practically crawling with lice and other things, so I wouldn't let her play in the Wendy House with the other children, and make sure her hair is tied back at all times."

This was when the woman had leaned closer, and muttered in a low voice,

"Now I probably shouldn't judge, so keep this to yourself, but there's one other child that I like to keep an eye on."

"Let me guess," The young woman said brightly, "Still wear's nappies?"

"Oh no, nothing like that!" The older woman shook her head, "His name is Tseng. He's quite extraordinary."

"Clever?"

"Yes, amongst other things. He's ever so quite and polite, and you'd think the other children would bully him, but they don't, they do exactly as he says, and even though he doesn't really have many friends, he's always appointed group leader in the little games they play. He's usually very good, but then sometimes he looses his temper and…" Here the woman's eyes went wide, "Its actually frightening. Its like watching a fully grown man! He's just so mature and- well, just keep an eye on him."

"I will."

The younger woman eyed the small group of children now, as they played in the sandpit. She counted heads again. Her heart stopped. Twelve. There should be thirteen. She remembered the little dark-haired boy who had stood away from the others during snack-time. It was he who had gone. Trying to stay calm, she quickly scanned the large hall. Her eyes fell upon the large main entrance, and her heart sank. It was open. After forbidding the children to move from the sandpit, she grabbed her coat, and made for the door. She didn't have to go far.

Leaning casually on the wall outside, an old-fashioned toy phone pressed against his ear, was Tseng.

"Yes Mr President," He was saying, quite seriously, "I've completed the mission and the others are coming-" He stopped suddenly, and pressed his hand over the receiver, "It's not polite to listen to people's conversations you know."

"Tseng!" She cried, grabbing his wrist and dragging him back into the hall, "You naughty little boy! How dare you go wandering off into the street! Why did you do it?"

"Well I don't usually like having people listening to my phone calls," He said coolly, "So I take them outside like my mother and father do."

"Can't you just play with the phone inside the hall?"

"No!" He looked horrified at the thought, "I wouldn't want that lot to hear any of the vital information I have to give to the President."

She frowned,

"Which president?"

"The president of Shin-Ra of course! Who else?"

She raised her eyebrows. Shin-Ra Electrical Power Company. His parents must work for them or something.

"Well here, we don't have anything to do with Shin-Ra," She said, "Our president is Mr Fluffy," She pointed to the wobbly pictures of the cheesy bunny rabbit, painted by the children themselves.

Quick as a flash, Tseng pulled a miniature toy pistol out of his pocket, and pointed it at her. It was only child's play, but she found it sent a cold chill shivering up her spine.

"Put that nasty toy down Tseng," She said firmly.

"I'm sorry," He said, "But you have been accused of working for another power company, and are therefore Shin-Ra's enemy. BANG BANG!" He shouted it so suddenly, it made her jump. He lowered the gun and scowled at her, "You know, when people get shot, they usually fall on the ground."

"This isn't an appropriate game to be playing Tseng," She said crossly, taking the gun and the phone away from him, "I want you to go and play in the sandpit with the other boys and girls." She hated to admit it, but she was afraid of this boy.

He scowled again, and thrust his hands into his pockets, before moving over to the crowded sandpit. Two seconds before, the children had been fighting for space, snatching each other's buckets and spades, but the moment that strange little boy put his foot on the wooden rim, a big space was cleared, and the other children were falling over themselves trying to give him their own spades. He'd said and done nothing to make them frightened, but it seemed that they just wanted to please him.

"You've got an…imaginative little boy there," She said to his mother later on, when it was time for the children to be collected.

"Oh, he isn't my son," The woman smiled, "I'm the family au pair. His parents are never home, and so I look after him most of the time."

"From the amount of knowledge about the company he has, I guess they both work for Shin-Ra."

"Yes, they're both executives in different departments. Tseng likes to pretend he works in Shin-Ra too, like a spy or something. He's very realistic about it sometimes."

"I'm going to be a Turk," The boy said proudly. The au pair laughed,

"Come now Tseng, everybody knows the Turks are just a myth. Why don't you be one of the SOLDIER instead?"

"No," The boy stuck his chin out, "They do exist." He balled his fists suddenly, and stamped on the floor, "They DO exist!" He started to cry loudly, "They do exist, they do, they do!"

"Oops!" The au pair seemed to take this in her stride, "He always gets like this when we tell him the Turks don't exist. I'd better get him home."

The temporary day-care woman looked on as they left, and listened to the child's cries until they had completely died. The incident had made her uneasy, for watching it had been like watching a grown man start crying. In truth, it frightened her greatly, but she never spoke of it, and was glad to leave the day-care centre when that other woman returned from her holiday. When asked what the children had been like, she would only ever smile, and say,

"Oh, they were nice."

Many years later, as a middle aged woman with three children of her own, she happened to glance at a newspaper lying on the breakfast table.

YOUNG MIDGAR MAN MISSING NOW FOR TWO WEEKS!

It was two weeks ago today that a young man, Tseng Tsari, disappeared without a trace, and authorities still haven't found a single clue. The missing man should have returned home to his flat in Sector Six fourteen days ago, but has not been seen anywhere since his last sighting, getting into a black limo containing a middle aged gentleman at precisely quarter past three in the afternoon. Witnesses are urged to contact…

She stopped reading the report, and stared at the picture under the text. Although it was in black and white, and her memory was faded, she was certain it was that same little boy from the day-care centre, the serious eyes were the same, and so was the face and hair, although it was longer now and tied back into a tiny ponytail. She found that she was quite disturbed by the article, and her hands were still shaking as she waved her husband off to work later that morning. It was then that a black car, not a limo, but indeed very nice, sped past at double the speed limit. She didn't see the driver clearly, but she could have sworn he had serious features, and dark hair tied back into a tiny ponytail, and that there had been a phone pressed against his ear…


	2. Prologue 2 Rude's Story

Yo again! This is the second chapter to my Reno series. I know there hasn't actually been any Reno yet, but don't worry, he'll come soon, I'm just trying to get everything sorted out. This is Rude's part of the prologue. I DON'T OWN RUDE (OR TSENG, I FORGOT TO PUT THAT ON THE LAST ONE!!!)

Rude's Story.

The teacher swallowed as the parents of her next pupil on the list arrived. In general, she had nothing bad to say about this boy, but there were a few strange things, and she hated having to say negative things about her pupils to their parents.

"In most ways, I couldn't ask for a better student," She said, passing them various pieces of neatly written work, and report cards, "He does exceptionally well in all his subjects, and his behaviour is almost perfect example to the younger children."

"You said "In most ways"," The mother looked very worried, and she was clutching her handbag tightly, "What's the bad part? Is he failing a lesson? Is he being bullied? Has something gone wrong?"

"Calm down!" The father patted his wife's shoulder, and turned back to the teacher, "I think what my wife is trying to say is that we are very pleased with the positive report you have given our son, and if there is anything wrong, we are both very concerned."

The teacher took a deep breath.

"Is there anything wrong at home at all? Nothing to make him afraid or feel unwanted?"

The parents stared at each other, and looked shocked,

"I don't think so," The mother frowned, "Things have been going very well for our family at the moment."

"Its just," The teacher tried to soften her words, "He doesn't seem to say much. In fact…he doesn't say anything at all. Not one word unless its to answer the register."

"He does find it very difficult to talk to people he doesn't know or trust very much," The father said, "I've noticed that myself. He'll talk to his mother and I quite happily, but when we have visitors, he barely even looks them in the eye, and says nothing the whole evening."

"Shall I ask him to come in here so we can sort something out?" The mother looked towards the door.

"Maybe that would be helpful." The teacher stood up, and held the door open, "Rude dear, would you like the come in now?"

The boy who walked through the door was dark skinned like his parents, and very tall, like his father. He was only twelve years old, but his hair was already thinning, so thin in places he was almost bald. He wore a pair of dark glasses, hiding his eyes.

"That's another thing," The teacher added, "I would prefer it if you made him leave those sunglasses at home. I have to keep asking him to remove them. He can wear them now, as this technically isn't school hours, but just so that I don't see them tomorrow…" She smiled slightly at the boy to ensure him that no harm was done. He sat down in between his parents, and looked at his feet.

"Your teacher is very pleased with you in general, dear," His mother said, "But she would like to know if there is anything wrong, because she says you don't talk when you are at school."

"…"

"Rude," His father said, a little firmly, "There's no need to be shy. You aren't in any sort of trouble."

"There's no need to be frightened," The teacher said gently, "If something is wrong, you can tell us."

"Nothing's wrong."

"Are you sure?"

"…"

"Darling, please say if something is wrong, because then we can help you."

"I like being quiet."

"Is there a reason for that? Do you think it will stop people from noticing you?"

"…"

The teacher could tell that the boy's father was starting to loose patience, so she changed the subject.

"Anyway, I think there's something you need to tell your parents about what I found you doing behind the bike sheds this afternoon?"

The boy shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, and was silent for a long time.

"Come on Rude," The teacher said, "It was quite a bad thing to do, wasn't it now? It could have got you into quite a lot of trouble, couldn't it, if you'd have been caught by another teacher?"

"Guess so."

"What did you do Rude?" His father asked.

"Made a bomb."

The reaction of the parents was actually quite amusing for the teacher to watch. The mother gave a shriek, and leapt right out of her chair, dropping her bag, the contents spilling all over the floor, and then burst into tears. The father cussed loudly, and also leapt out of his chair, to comfort his wife.

"It wasn't gonna go off or nuthin'" Rude said, "I disabled the right wires and stuff. I just like building them, and taking them apart again, and looking at the pieces."

"Oh Rude, how _could_ you?" His mother wept.

"I promise it wasn't gonna hurt anybody!" Rude seemed to have found his voice again, "I only made it out of the left-over parts of a motorbike lying on the technology lab floor, and a stick of dynamite I found in a rubbish dump!"

"Where did you learn to make something like that?" The teacher asked, "That's a complicated and dangerous thing to make."

"…"

"Oh no son!" The father said angrily, "If you could speak just then, you can speak now. Answer your teacher's question!"

"I can just make them. I don't know how."

"And how do you think being able to make bombs will help you in your future career?"

The paper boy was grumpy as he shoved the newspapers through each letterbox. It was cold, and he'd got more papers than usual. As he thrust one paper through a letter box, the front page blew away, but he did not stop to pick it up.

YOUNG MIDGAR MAN MISSING NOW FOR TWO WEEKS!

It was two weeks ago today that eighteen-year-old, Rude Hastings, disappeared without a trace, and authorities still haven't found a single clue. The missing man should have returned home to his parent's house in Sector One fourteen days ago, but has not been seen anywhere since his last sighting, getting into a black limo containing an old gentleman, and a man in his mid-twenties, with dark hair at precisely quarter past three in the afternoon. Witnesses are urged to contact…


	3. Prologue 3 Reno's Story

In case you guys haven't noticed, I'm doing this little prologue thingies in order of recruitment into the Turks. As usual, I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS gawd, I wish I owned Reno though 

Reno's Story.

His mother wasn't quite sure who his father was. Her brain had become so messed up over the years of drink and drugs she could scarcely remember his name, or if he was a boy or a girl. Mind you, by the time he was four, his hair had grown so long it was difficult for anybody to tell. His mother never took him to the hairdressers, or the doctors, or even to school, but for some reason, she never forgot to take him to the dentist, which would explain his starved-dog features, his inability to read or write, and his pearly white teeth. Anyway, none of that mattered, she died when he was five.

He remembered running home from a brilliant game in the next run down street of the slums, into their one-roomed house, and finding her kneeling on the floor, holding a rusty razor blade over her wrists. He was only five, but a life of living in the slums, a haven for murderers, perverts, and other things had taught him to be quick, and to know when something would hurt him or others. He knew right then that whatever his mother was doing, it was going to hurt her, so he ran forward, and tried to knock that sharp piece of metal from her hands.

She went crazy.

He knew then that she had gone completely mad, and had no idea who he was, and what he was doing in her house, so it wasn't a complete shock when she dived on him, and tried to cut out his eyes. He managed to get away, but for the rest of his life he bore two identical twin scars under his eyes, going up the side of his head until they were almost level with his eyebrows. That frightened him them, and he scuttled into a corner, and hid. He watched her slit her wrists.

Afterwards, he was on his own. He used to wander the streets all day, and then go back to his home during the night. Of course, after some time, the smell of the decaying body drove him away, and he had to find somewhere else to go. It wasn't safe, even for a street rat, to be outside in the slums at night. Come to think of it, its wasn't safe to be in the slums during the day as well. So many kids went missing…

He was seven when he got his first taste of alcohol. He must have looked such a state by then, the person who gave it to him probably felt sorry for him. Many people thought he was a sorry sight, "that weird little street-kid with the long hair the exact same colour as a post box, and those nasty looking scars on his face, and the clothes that are far too small for him,"

He used to remember that first sip of the strange, fizzy drink the woman handed him suddenly, as he drew in the mud with a stick outside her pub. In a way, she became fond of him, rather in the fashion of a dog, and she would often leave scraps out for him, and of course, the drink. She liked it when he found the food, and his eyes would go wide, wider than they were already, because he had never seen sunlight before, and his pupils were so large the green could hardly be seen.

By the time he was eight, he was able to drink more alcohol than a large man, and still be completely sober. On the rare occasions he did drink too much, he would collapse outside the pub, and would either lie there until he came round, or get shoved into a corner during a brawl. He got into his fair share of fights too, and would often get beaten to a pulp. He was nine when he started winning, and it was rumoured that "that red-head kid can hit harder than The Fist."

The slums was the territory of The Fist. Nobody knew his real name, and he was so called because it was rumoured he could punch through thick wood. He had a large gang of cronies that went around for him, beating up those who didn't stay in line, and doing the odd murder of somebody he didn't like. Now The Fist didn't like hearing that a nine year old street-rat might be able to punch harder than him, so he cornered him in an alleyway, and threatened to torch the pub if he didn't accept the challenge of a fight in the pub, later that evening. Being a cocky little boy, he was stupid, and accepted.

"C'mon Red-Head!" The woman from the pub said to him, using the name he was known by (for he never spoke his real name, for no particular reason), "He'll wipe the floor with you!"

But he didn't. After thirty rounds, and lots of bloodshed from the nose, The Fist collapsed onto the floor, and had to be carried out by his cronies. Red-Head was a hero for a whole week.

But just a week.

He was scrounging in an alleyway for something to eat, when eight shadows fell upon him. He tried to run, but the cronies fell upon him, and he couldn't beat them. By the time they were finished with their fists, there wasn't one part of him that wasn't either bruised black, or bleeding. But the worst was yet to come. They held him down, and stabbed him sixteen times, two stabs for each of them. Then they left him, unable to call for help, and bleeding to death. It was then that he first thought about dying, and found that he didn't care much, if it would make this terrible pain he was feeling go away.

When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on a bed, his wounds properly dressed, and very much alive. He had been saved by a man whom many people would have said it would have been better for them to have died, rather than fall into his company. Red-Head became his right hand man.

But this wasn't a good thing.

To cut a long and disturbing story short, even though in the years to come he was a complete womaniser, he would never let any woman do anything to him of the greater oral variety. Like people said, they would rather have died than come into this man's company. The man said that Red-Head "owed" it to him, because he saved Red-Head's life, and he should be grateful, and Red-Head learnt how to be grateful very, very quickly.

He was eleven when he came into possession of a gun. He was hiding from his "master" one day, behind a row of grubby market stalls, and it happened to be lying on the floor, with a single bullet in it. He kept it, and hid it inside his jacket pocket, and went straight back "home". The "master" was angry. He advanced on Red-Head, who suddenly felt that he didn't want to belong to the "master" anymore. The "Master" was already pulling down his trousers when he shot him.

There was something about the brain matter splattered on the floor, and the smell of blood that gave Red-Head a taste for killing. He felt no remorse for what he had done, and no guilt, because he didn't know what they were. He couldn't even spell "guilt", although this wasn't surprising. He could count up to seven, and knew the alphabet up to "R", but that was all.

He first saw the serious, dark-haired man watching him, when he was thirteen. He was leaning against a wall, getting as far as he could with some girl whose name he didn't even know, when he first spotted him. The moment the man saw him watching, he was gone. The second time, it was a different girl, and a different place, behind the house where he had been born (the body had long since been carted away). This time, he had tried to chase the man, but had never found him.

The final time he saw him in the slums, and he had got used to it by this time, was when he was sixteen. He had been walking down the street, after an encounter with three girls, when a black limo pulled up beside him, and the dark-haired man got out.

"What is your name?" He asked.

"Red-Head."

"What's your real name?"

"Reno."

"Get into the limo Reno. I've a proposition for you."


	4. Prologue 4 Elena's Story

C'mon, you know all this bit by now, I don't own anybody, blablabla. The main story will come soon, I swear, I just have this annoying tendency to want to write down everything about the characters.

Elena's Story.

"That is so totally unfair!" Elena screamed at her parents, who stood washing that night's dinner plates, "I can't believe you're being so harsh!"

"It's not that we're trying to stop you seeing your friends Elena," Her father tried to reason with her, "Its just that you'll still only be sixteen years old, and your mother and I both think that sixteen is an unacceptable age to be going clubbing in a completely different Sector."

"But the Seventh Heaven's here are all rubbish!" Elena cried, "And it's for my birthday! My friends will all think I'm a loser if I'm not allowed to go!"

"I'm sure they'll understand," Her mother said calmly, "And if they don't then they're-"

""Not my real friends", yeah, I know, you say it every time," Elena folded her arms, "But it just doesn't work like that anymore! Things have advanced since the caveman times!"

Her father lost his temper then. He was one of those few who trained the SOLDIER their skills in battle, and it was frightening when he got angry. The plate he was holding cracked.

"Now look here Elena!" He exclaimed, "I understand that you are disappointed, but that still gives you no right to be rude to your mother and I!"

"I suppose I'll just have to have a sleepover then," Elena spat angrily, "Like I did when I was ten."

Her parents cast each other a nervous glance.

"Actually darling, we think Gina might be home that night," Her mother twisted the tea towel anxiously in her hands, "So we'd really rather you didn't."

Elena let out a scream of frustration and smacked the table top hard. Her hand stung viciously, and turned red.

"Why?" She cried, "Why do I have to stop everything for Gina?" She said her older sister's name as if it were an infectious disease, "If she just stays out of the way, then the chances are we won't bother her!"

"And how do you explain the fact that she's received a phone call in the middle of the night, and suddenly disappeared off for another six weeks?" Snapped her father, "Just remember, it isn't just you who has to suffer because somebody they love is a Turk!"

"I'm not worried about loosing her!" Elena growled. The reaction of her parents was instant. Her mother gave a small cry, and dropped the plate she was holding, and her father slapped her cheek hard.

"How dare you!" He was breathing hard, "Do you not love your sister?"

"No!" Elena turned to run for her room, but found her way was blocked.

Standing in the kitchen doorway was a young woman in a dark blue suit. Her blonde hair was cut short into a bob, and there was a dark scowl on her face.

"Feeling's mutual," She moved further into the room and planted a kiss on her parent's cheeks, "Good evening Daddy!"

"Hello darling," Even though she was twenty, he still ruffled her hair, "How's work?"

"Oh Daddy!" Gina laughed in a tinkling voice, "You know I can't tell you that!" It was a joke between the two of them, told whenever Gina came home. Everybody in Shin-Ra who knew of the Turk's existence had no idea what they got up to.

"You make me sick!"

Elena waited until she was safely in her room before bursting into tears. She didn't have long to cry. Two minutes later her phone went off. She wiped her eyes, sniffed, and answered it.

"You've been crying," Her best friend Diane knew straight away, "Why have you been crying?"

"Nothing," Elena mumbled, "I can't come to Seventh Heaven."

"Oh," Diane's voice became sulky, "No surprises there. What is it this time? Are you doing homework?"

"Don't be like that Di!" Elena pleaded, "My mom and dad won't let me go! They're being totally unfair!"

"Can't you just sneak out or something?" Diane begged, "It'll be no fun without you! Anyway, it's supposed to be for your birthday. There won't be any point in going if you don't come!"

"I'm so sorry Di!" Elena tried, but the phone on the other line went blank. Thirty seconds later, the phone rang again. It was Jenny and Kimoko, Elena's other two friends.

"Di just rang and told us you're making excuses about not being able to go out with us again," They said, "What's the point in being our friend if you're just gonna do this all the time?"

"But I told her my mom and dad aren't letting me go!" Cried Elena, "This isn't my fault at all!"

"Whatever," The sounded bored, "Don't bother calling round for us before school tomorrow. We're going in the car."

Elena slammed the phone down, and opened her bedroom door,

"Congratulations!" She yelled down the stairs, "My friends all hate me now, and it's all your fault! Thank you very much! I can't even make it up to them with a sleepover because you're here Gina!"

Her older sister came running up the stairs.

"What's your problem?" She yelled, "I can't help what little time Tseng gives me to take a break! You've had a problem with me ever since I got into the Turks! Ever since I got into the military school even! You just can't bear the thought of me outdoing you just this once!"

"You!" Screamed Elena, "Are such a bitch!"

"You're the bitch, and I hate you! I wish you'd never been born!"

"I wish that you'd get killed on one of your poxy missions!"

Gina punched her then, hard. She was a trained fighter, and a trained killer, and so she soon had Elena on the floor, her hands enclosed round her throat.

"For God's sake!" Their father pulled them apart, appearing out of nowhere, their mother close behind them.

"I never want anything to do with you again!" Gina shrieked, and fled from the hallway, and out of the door. They heard her car pull away, and then there was silence.

Two years later, Elena tugged her locker open, her arms laden with books and term papers. She thrust them untidily into the small space, and then noticed a note that had somehow been stuck on the inside of the door. She snatched it off, about to throw it on the floor, because the very immature boys in her form had taken to shoving fake love letters into random lockers, but then she noticed the first few words, and opened it. Her eyes widened.

_Dear Miss Elena,_

_You do not know me, but doubtless you heard me mentioned many times during your late sister's conversations with your parents (her death came as a great tragedy, know that she died in the line of duty). My name is Tseng Tsari, and I am in charge of a group of Shin-Ra that many people do not believe exists. The Turks. We have been watching you for some time. We are watching you now. Look to your left._

Elena looked sideways. At first she could see nobody of any interest, but then she noticed a pupil leaning against the wall, next to the water fountain. He wore the school uniform like any other kid, the tie loose, and the shirt untucked, but when she took a closer look, she could tell he was a little too old to be in school. He had scarlet hair, that almost matched the fire extinguisher on the wall next to him, and two strange marks under his cheeks. He winked at her.

_See him? He worked with your sister many times, on many different missions. Now it is your turn. Do not worry. Your father has been informed. What I want you to do is this; go outside, there will be a black limo waiting…_


	5. Cefra's Recruitment

Yo! Sorry about the wait, I spent quite a lot of time worrying over whether to add in another chapter before this one, but I decided against it in the end. NO MORE PROLOGUES!!! Cefra is a character I invented, and does not belong to Square Enix, or whoever invented the characters.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cefra breathed in deeply, and allowed her shoulders to relax. Little by little, the tension, the grief, and the stress she had been through over the last couple of days lessened. She opened her eyes again. She was alone now, standing over the newly filled in grave. She eyed the lettering on the marble. She had not composed it herself; she'd had neither the time or the courage to do it. The person it described was not really Dak, the strong, creative, indescribable man she had fallen in love with. This was somebody else, somebody fashioned out of Dak's shell. The vicar's speech had been the same. He didn't know Dak, and this was just another sad day for one unlucky individual.

"Well," She smiled down at the gravestone, "As you would say, "We had a good run"". She let the single white lily she had been holding drop gracefully to the ground, and then she turned away.

Cefra Knightswood's father liked to say that she had grown up inside the karate school, and was more at home there than at her real home. When she was two, she had been enrolled there, and by the time she was twelve, she was the highest grade in all forms of physical combat, including sword play. Her temperament almost equally matched her fighting skills; she was fiery, quick to anger, and equally quick to calm down again.

Unfortuantly, she was not blessed with luck. Both her parents died when she was fifteen, after being caught in a gang-shooting in the middle of Midgar. She began to board at her school soon after, but when she was eighteen, she was forced to leave. She had intended to stay on as a teacher, but there were no vacancies. Despite her brain and body power, she ended up working in the Handy Hi-fi store, just feet away from where her parents were killed.

"Are they still there?"

Martha, manager of the Handy Hi-fi store on Sector Central was worried. Cefra glanced through the glass windows.

"Yup. Do you want me to ask them to leave?"

"Oh no dear, you could get hurt!" Martha shook her head. Nobody knew of Cefra's skills, and Cefra wasn't about to tell anybody, "Maybe if we just ignore them, they'll go away."

"I don't think they will," Cefra stared at the group of heavy-set young men. They were all huge, and looked as if they all shared one brain. They were glaring menacingly into the store, eyeing the expensive music systems, "You can almost see "steal everything" going through their hollow skulls."

"I don't like leaving the shop unguarded tonight," Martha frowned, "The security systems have been completely up the spout since last Friday. I bet that lot had something to do with it."

"I'll stay," Cefra said at once, "I don't much like being at home now."

Martha's expression softened,

"Yes, I suppose it must be very hard for you, ever since that nice young man you were all set to marry-" She broke off, and changed the subject, "But are you sure you should be here tonight? What if they try anything?"

Cefra shrugged,

"I don't know. I can give a hefty punch if I try."

"No, no!" Martha looked horrified, "You mustn't! They'll have knives to be sure!"

"Calm down," Cefra's black hair fell over her face as she laughed, "If they try anything, I'll hide and call the police."

"Good girl," Martha was content with that, "Just make sure you don't go disappearing or anything like that."

Any worry that Cefra or Martha might have felt was unnecessary. Within the hour, the group of thugs sloped off, and didn't reappear.

"I'm still going to stay on for a little bit anyhow," Cefra said, as Martha pulled on her coat, and headed for the door, "Just in case."

"Make sure-"

"I'll be fine Martha, I'm not afraid of a bunch of hooligans."

"No, but I am. Just watch yourself."

Finally, when the luminous clock on the wall announced that it was one o' clock, Cefra decided that she could now leave. She made sure that every lock and code was in place, before tugging on her coat, and making for the door. The Sector Central was pitch black, and very silent. She shivered a little, and turned to lock the door. Something sharp suddenly pressed into her back.

"Give me those keys, sweetheart, or I might do something I'll regret."

The thugs had surrounded her from behind, and now there was a knife pressed into her back.

"You hung around the store for three hours this morning just so you could rob it?" She sneered, "How sad are you?"

This stumped them, and for a minute, there was nothing but a few "ums" and "errs". Then, the knife pressured a little.

"Stop messing around," Snarled the first voice, "Keys please."

"Why would you want to rob a Hi-fi store? How many Hi-fi systems could you possibly want? There's a bank just five shops away. Why don't you just rob that and buy a Hi-fi system. Duh!"

"Why are you talking?" The main thug asked, "Just hand over the keys!"

"If I keep talking, that delays me getting angry, because when I get angry, I tend to get a little feisty."

They bellowed with laughter, although one of them muttered, "what does feisty mean?"

"Listen sweetheart," The main thug said, "There's five of us, and one of you. We are big, strong dudes, and you're a little squirt who doesn't even look eighteen yet. What are you gonna do? Wet yourself on our shoes?"

"Hang on. When you were hanging around outside earlier, there were about twenty of you. Where are the rest of you? And as you're asking," Cefra said, "I was actually twenty one last month. And I'm not going to give you the keys. Are you big strapping lads man enough to commit murder?"

She was flung hard against the brick wall, and the thugs leapt on her. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of cries and bellows, until the thugs suddenly realised that Cefra wasn't there. She was standing just to the side of them.

"Delayed reaction much."

A particularly thick looking individual advanced on her. She dodged the clumsy but hard punch aimed at her face, and landed a stunning upper kick to his jaw. There was a nasty crack, and the man screamed. Cefra caught him by the hair, and rammed his head into the brick wall of the shop. He collapsed. Another came flying at her, and tried to bring her to the ground. She jumped backwards, and her missed her by a centimetre. Without waiting for him to get up, she located one of the nerves in his back, and punched hard. His scream was cut short as paralysis overtook him.

There was a sudden swish of air, and something hit her hard round the back of her head. She fell to the ground, her vision blurring as she hit the floor. She heard the patter of her blood as it spotted the pavement.

"Bitch!" It was the main thug, grasping a thin metal rod. It was flexible, and extremely thin, which was why she wasn't dead, but the thug was advancing on her, and this time, he would kill her. She tried to scramble to her feet.

"Yo!"

The thugs spun round. Cefra collapsed to the floor again, and tried to spot the sudden speaker. Her eyesight cleared a little. Somebody was standing at the foot of an alley, half shrouded in blackness.

"Ya know, I'm not usually one to talk yo, but isn't hitting a lady a bit… uncivilised."

"Huh?" The speaker had completely confused the thugs.

"I mean, come on! I didn't even learn to read until I was seventeen, but I knew that it was wrong to hit a girl when I was seven."

"She cheeked us!" The main thug spat, "And then she tried to stop us getting what we wanted."

"Whatever," The speaker sounded bored, "I got some business here tonight, so why don't you fuck off for a bit and mug somebody later yo?"

"Fuck you!" Yelled the main thug, "We'll cann your ass! There's five-" He stopped suddenly, and counted his fallen companions, "-Three of us, and only one of you, so-" There were two very sharp gunshots, and the two thugs standing next to their leader slumped. Cefra squinted at the figure, who stepped forwards, and blew the soft trail of smoke that issued from the barrel of a gun.

He was tallish, and was young, about her age. He was dressed in a dark suit, and seemed to have a pair of swimming goggles perched on his forehead. His hair was blood-red, and a pony tail flicked out some way down his back. There were two symmetrical marks under his green eyes.

"Correction time yo," He grinned, "There's one of you, and one of me, and I have a gun. Get outta here quick before I get pissed off. You've got until thirty."

The main thug made a strange noise in his throat, and bolted. The stranger turned his back, and began to count.

"One…two…three…five…ten…twenty…THIRTY!" He swung round, and with amazing accuracy, shot the thug in the back of the head. A sudden silence came over the Central.

Cefra managed to get back to her feet. The back of her head was extremely painful, and she was certain it was still bleeding a little. The stranger strolled casually towards her, tucking the gun into his jacket pocket.

"Biggest waste of bullets yo. You're Cefra Knightswood, right?"

"I think there's still more of them out there," She said quickly, "About fifteen more. We're not safe out here."

At that moment, there were shouts, and a hail of bullets sparked the pavement at their feet.

"Shit!" The stranger grabbed her hand, and dragged her roughly after him, "C'mon babe, you're coming with me."

"My name is Cefra," She growled through gritted teeth, and gasped as she felt a bullet whistle past her ear. The stranger pulled her down the alleyway he had come from.

"Uh, you know this is a dead end-" Cefra didn't finish. There was a sleek black car parked right at the back of the alley.

"Get in," The stranger ordered, and flung himself into the drivers seat.

"Hang on, just what the hell-" The car roared off, with a scream of engine and brakes. The bullets whined passed the vehicle.

"Don't. You. Fucking. Dare. Hit. My. Car!" Snarled the stranger. There was a horrible screeching noise as a bullet scratched through the metal of the door.

"Right you bastards!" Hissed the stranger, and swung the car round. A group of men with guns had appeared out of a nearby white van, and were each holding guns. The car shot towards them. A few managed to dive out of the way, but some-

"Oh my God!" Screamed Cefra, as a great wave of blood splattered along the windscreen. The stranger calmly switched the windscreen wipers on.

"Don't ever do that again!" Cefra screamed at him, as they pulled out of the Central and began tearing along the road at about ninety miles an hour.

"Yo, don't you dare start being a backseat driver!" The stranger growled, "Otherwise this just won't work!" He grimaced suddenly, and Cefra noticed the blood that was sprouting out of a hole in his suit sleeve.

"You've been shot!"

"You've been hit on the head, and you don't see me complaining. Gawd, I'm sorry your recruitment didn't go like it does in the movies, but this is real life."

"I wasn't complaining!" Cried Cefra, enraged, "And what the hell do you mean "recruitment"?"

"All in good time!" The stranger said in a mysterious voice. Cefra decided he was more annoying than the thugs.

"You're very immature."

"Why thank-you, but, I'm actually a pure-blooded troublemaker, rather than immature yo. I make people dizzy."

"If this is some sort of kidnapping thing, I'm warning you, I'm a black-belt!"

"Me too," He grinned, "Except I wasn't trained by some pretty little karate school for kiddiewinks."

"How in the name of whoever did you know that!" Cefra cried, "And it wasn't a school for kiddiewinks! You were probably trained by some druggie in the slums. You've got a slummish look about you!"

"Actually, I was trained by a Shin-Ra instructor," The stranger said, "And for your information, I was born in the slums, so there! yo".

A phone rang suddenly, and the stranger answered it.

"Yo? Yeah, I got her… No, I didn't kill anybody."

"Yes you did!" Snapped Cefra. She heard the voice on the other end rise in anger, and she grinned in satisfaction. She didn't know why, but something about this guy made her really angry.

"So I killed a few people!" The stranger shot her a very nasty look, "Don't have a cow over it yo! She was being attacked anyway! No I'm not irresponsible…wha-? That was one time…yo….yo whatever…Wha-? No! I can bring her in myself, I don't need you to baby sit me! What is THAT supposed to mean? No, fuck you!... Oh, you're ordering me… you're a bastard Tseng, you know that, don't you."

To Cefra's astonishment, he threw the phone out of the window.

"I have never needed to drink something so badly!" He muttered to himself, "Well fuck them, how quickly do they think they can get down here."

"Who?" Cefra asked.

"Shit!" The stranger slammed on the brakes, and the car skidded sideways, and stopped.


	6. Turks

Turks.

There was a black car, identical to the one Cefra was in, parked across the road. The strange looked livid.

"How the fuck does he do that?" He muttered, "How the FUCK does he do that?" Ignoring Cefra, he slammed out of the car.

"I told you I didn't need your help!" He screamed at the three people who had emerged from the second car, "I've been in this stinking team for seven years! I am not Elena! I don't not need you to wipe my ass Tseng!"

A woman's voice angry and shrill cried,

"I do not need Tseng to "wipe my ass" as you so amusingly put it!"

"Whatever," The stranger said to the woman, "You've been licking his ass since the day he made me stand in that hallway for hours to recruit you!"

"I hate you!"

"I hate you more!"

"Silence!" A serious voice, not raised, but enough to make the stranger and the woman shut up, cam from the first of the three people. He strode towards Cefra, and shook her hand, "Good evening Miss Knightswood."

"Um…" Cefra could think of nothing to say. The man was also tall, and his hair was black, and taken back into a very short ponytail. He too, was dressed in a dark suit, "I trust you have no idea what's going on?"

"Uh… no?" Cefra stammered, suddenly quite afraid.

"And I suppose your "escort" did not have the courtesy to inform you what is happening?"

"Uh…no?"

"Reno, you suck!" The other woman snapped at the stranger, "Look at her! She's probably terrified, and- what have you done to her? She's bleeding!" She stepped towards Cefra looking concerned. She was small, and her hair was cut into a blonde bob. She wasn't much older than Cefra. She might even have been younger, "Are you okay? I'm sorry we had to sent this ass-hole to pick you up. Rude and I were gonna come, but we had another job, so there was no other option."

"Yo, I am here you know," Sapped the stranger, now named Reno.

"I'm Elena," The woman said, "That scruffy dickhead is Reno, this is the boss, Tseng," She gestured to the man who had spoken to Cefra, "And the guy just here, who's too shy to say anything is Rude." A bald dark-skinned man inclined his head towards Cefra. He wore dark glasses over his eyes.

"Um…cool…I guess," Cefra was completely lost, "Uh… will somebody tell me what's going on? And will it take long? I have to be at work in the morning, and I won't be able to wake up if I'm here much longer."

"Here isn't really a good place to tell you anything," Tseng said, "But if you would be good enough to come with us, then we might be able to explain what's going on a bit better." He opened the door of the second car for her, "Please get in." He turned to the bald man, "Rude, you go with Reno. See if you can knock some sense into that friend of yours."

"Yes sir,"

Elena climbed into the passenger seat at the front, and Tseng drove off, much smoother than Reno had done.

"I must apologise for your treatment with Reno," He said apologetically, "He was caught too young to tame."

"That's okay," The throbbing in Cefra's head dulled her surprise, "He was just annoying."

"Oh, he's a bastard," Elena spat, "But anyway."

"To cut a long and boring story short," Tseng said, "We have been watching you for some time now. Please, don't interrupt," He said quickly, as Cefra opened her mouth, "It would be easier for all of us. Some time ago, we became aware of your fighting skills, and realised that they could be of use to us. You could have just been asked to become a soldier- yes, we work for Shin-Ra- but you also have a considerable amount of intelligence that would work better elsewhere. I am asking you to agree to work in a special department, the Investigation Division of the General Affairs. In this department, there is a special, almost completely secret group, of which I am in charge. Our formal name is the Department of Administrative Research, but most people call us "The Turks.""

"Oh. My. God." Cefra managed to blurt out.

"Yes," Said Tseng, "Basically, we do the work that the president of Shin-Ra would like to be kept secret. The "Dirty Work". We mainly are assigned to protect key members of the company, but we also are required to spy, and also assassinate anybody who gets in Shin-Ra's way. If you agree, then I must warn you, you can never speak with anybody you know again. You must be who we tell you, and live where we tell you. Those who knew you will never know why you disappeared. You will not exist. The training will be hard, and there will be times when you will wish you never carried on. But there will also be times when everything was worth it."

"Okay," Cefra said slowly, "And if I disagree."

"Then I will stop the car and have Reno shoot you."

"Sorry," Elena said quickly, "Its not personal. We just can't risk anybody knowing anything about us."

Cefra was silent for a long time,

"There isn't anybody who would miss me," She said, "And I am a strong supporter of Shin-Ra, and I can certainly hurt somebody bad. But I don't know if I can kill a person. You said about assassinations. I'm not sure if I can do that."

"We'll teach you how," Said Tseng, "And how not to loose sleep over it afterwards."

A walkie-talkie crackled suddenly, and Reno's voice said,

"Tick tock, tick tock, what will it be yo?"

"Reno!" Tseng snarled, "I'm warning you!" There was a gruff mumbling in the background, and then a thud, and a howl from Reno, and then silence again.

"If I agreed, will I have to spend time with him?"

Elena laughed, and even Tseng smiled,

"Unfortuantly."

"Darn," Cefra sighed, "Okay. I'll do it."

She felt more blood trickle down her neck, and then she fainted.


	7. Training

_When would it stop? Cefra urged herself onwards, her whole body screaming defiance against her legs. She had to keep going. She'd already done fifteen miles. Only another five to go now. Not much further. The stitch in her side was so painfully, it was making her eyes water. She shifted the heavy pack on her back, and tried to ignore the savage blisters the straps had rubbed into her back. Not much further…_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Remember, use your instincts. If you think it would be in the best interests of your mission to run, and leave a bleeding man, then you do it."_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_This is called a helicopter. They are for flying."_

"_I know what they're for."_

"_Do you really?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Are you sure ?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Positive yo?"_

"_YES!!!"_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_So much pain. This was nothing like her karate lessons from ages ago. She had been slammed on her back so many times now she was sure it was broken in about fifty different places. She struggled to her feet again, only to be slammed to the floor again, by the sinister looking master. Her nose began to bleed._

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_I find it easier to aim if you keep one eye closed when you look at the target. I know you don't see the guys doing anything like that, but they've been working longer than me, so they've kinda become good at it. Try not to hold the gun too tightly. If you've never held one before, then the force of the bullet leaving the gun can rattle your wrist bones a little. That's it, that's a good aim! Now on the count of three- oh shit! Oh, oh god, don't worry, ah, I'm sorry sir, let's get you to hospital. Don't worry Cefra, it wasn't completely your fault, he shouldn't have been here anyway. How did you manage to get the bullet to go over there? _

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Her legs weren't aching as much, and she was sure she was running faster. The stitch wasn't so bad either, although she was still out of breath. Cefra could see the end of the run ahead of her, and one of the Turks waiting at the end. She was certain she'd done this in a much quicker time this time._

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_When it comes to the President, nothing is more important. You value your life over everybody except him. Your life is more important than anybody else's, except his. If somebody tried to shoot him, then you jump in the way of the bullet. If somebody tried to shoot him and there's a child nearby, you still jump in front of the president."_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Okay, just land her down there yo."_

"_That's a playground."_

"_And I'm sure you can land her without killing any of the kids."_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_She pulled the instructor's arm up behind his back, and thrust her foot into the back of his knee, so that he crumpled forwards. She stood back, to let him stand up again._

"_Good. You have come on well. I don't think you'll be needing me for much longer."_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Okay Cefra, that's great. You hold the gun so steady! That's it! Oh, brilliant shot! I wish the guys could have seen that! _


	8. First Incident

"Elena, answer these questions truthfully," Cefra slouched in her chair, her head in her hands, "How many times have I accompanied the president anywhere?"

"You haven't."

"How many people have I spied on?"

"None."

"And how many people have I assassinated?"

"None."

"Then how come I have so much paperwork?"

Elena grinned sympathetically at her new friend, and stood on tip toe to talk to her, peering over the mountains of reports and files.

"I bet you just have to sign half of it. I think most of it is contracts and stuff, things that are only important for like, five seconds." She sifted through the endless amounts of paper, "God, I bet half the forests in this world are on your desk. Yup, I was right; here's a contract, another contract- _you_ have to write a report to the Tseng explaining why you were hungover on the job last Wednesday?"

"Huh?" Cefra snatched the papers from Elena, "_What_? I wasn't hungover last Wednesday! Where did this come from?" She began tearing sheets from her desk, "I've got a note here telling me to compile a transcription of a secret meeting between the president and some executive person! What secret meeting?"

Elena frowned down at the sheet she was reading,

"It says here you have to accompany yourself on a mission that will take place next month! What the hell? How can you accompany yourself?"

"On this one it's a personal note from the president, thanking me for seeing to the disposal of a couple of incompetent third class SOLDIERS!" Cefra was furious, "I haven't done any of this stuff."

Elena suddenly slammed the files back down on the table,

"That was Reno's assignment." Her eyes widened, "Cefra, please tell me Reno hasn't ever handed your work folders to you."

"He gives them to me every day," Sudden realisation dawned on Cefra, "He wouldn't!"

Elena nodded,

"I bet you he has!"

"RENO!!"

They found him in the shooting range, testing his latest gun. He didn't hear them approaching, and when they first attacked him he started to fight back, until he noticed who it was.

"I know I'm irresistible, but is there really any need to fight over me yo? I'm sure I'd be able to find time for both of you-"

Elena punched him hard in the face.

"Have you been slipping half of your work into Cefra's pile?"

"What on earth gave you that idea?" Reno cried innocently, a wonderful big red mark appearing on his cheek, "As if I'd do such a thing-"

Cefra snatched his gun, and held it against his groin,

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing?"

"I swear I'll do it!"

Sweat instantly appeared on his forehead, and he bleached pure white,

"You have no idea how much I treasure that particular part of my anatomy, and I must warn you, if you harm it in any way, I _will_ kill you."

She clicked the bullet into place, and pushed harder.

"Talk."

"Okay, okay!" He squeaked, his voice several tones higher than usual, "Maybe a few sheets accidentally dropped out of my hand. More than a few sheets. Most of my folder! Please don't pull the trigger, yo! I swear I'll do all your paperwork for a month!"

Cefra lowered the gun a little,

"Is that a promise."

He was visibly terrified,

"Whatever, just move the gun away from my-"

At that moment, there was a muffled boom, and the room slightly vibrated.

"What the hell was that?" Reno yelled, taking the opportunity to snatch the gun from Cefra.

Elena was already headed for the door,

"Never mind that, we have to find the president!"

They met up with Rude as they ran along the corridor. The door to the president's office was open, and there was a lot of smoke coming from inside. They covered their faces, and entered.

"Mr President sir?" Cefra called nervously.

"Cefra?" It was Tseng, "Is that you?"

"It's all of us!" Reno cursed as he tripped over a chair that had toppled over, "What's happened?"

"Some psychopath sent some sort of miniature bomb in a letter!" Tseng said through the smoke, "It looked like it was sent from one of the executives, and I think that's why the president opened it himself. He's alright, but he is unconscious."

Elena felt her way over to the window, and opened it. Gradually, the smoke disappeared. The office was a mess. Paper and equipment was scattered everywhere. The control boards that made up Rufus Shin-Ra's desk were scattered with ash and coffee. The president himself lay sprawled on the floor, another letter clutched in his hand. Rude took it gingerly, and examined it.

"No bomb," He said, and handed it to Reno, who opened it, and began to read, very badly.

"Mr Shinra, president of Shin-Ra Electric Power Company. I trust this letter reaches you well. Actually, I'm quite sure that it won't. Most likely, you will be unconscious on the floor of your office, having hopefully already opened the nice little gift I sent. Wasn't it smart of me to make the letter look like one of the executives of your little company had sent it? Well, I had to be sure you were the one to open it. Who am I? I'm sure that little group of lapdogs you keep around you will find out sooner or later. For now, think of me as a…rival. Today, Mr Shinra, your company is the biggest thing on this planet. Very soon, it won't be. Mine will. Think of the bomb as a warning. Don't get in my way. Know this; the mere existence of your company gets in my way. Do the sensible thing, and end it all now. Shut the company down, and, as they say in the movies, nobody gets hurt. Of course, I know you think you're invincible, up there in your giant building. You're not."


	9. Second Incident

Reno and Cefra stood in front of Tseng's desk, their mouths hanging open, looks of pure horror on their faces. Tseng stared back at them, his dark eyebrows knitted closely together.

"You don't have a problem with this?" He asked.

No answer.

"Well? Do you?"

Still no answer. Tseng sighed, and stood up, shaking his head at the pair of them.

"Either way, you have no choice. Asking was just a formality. You either do as I have asked, or I fire you. With a gun."

"Being fired sounds awful sweet right now," Reno's voice was weak, "Tseng, please don't make me do this!"

"Send Rude!" Cefra joined in, "Send Rude, not me!"

Tseng slammed his hands down on the desk,

"All I'm asking is for the two of you to accompany the President as protection as he travels to Kalm to open a new generator! What in the world is wrong with that?"

Reno lost his temper. He pointed at Cefra,

"THAT is what's wrong with it!"

"No, HE is what's wrong with it!" Cefra argued right back at him, "There's no way I'm going anywhere with _you_!"

"Listen," Tseng scowled at the two of them, "I know you each have your differences, but as grown adults I'm sure you are mature enough to sort them out."

"That little brat is no adult," Reno snarled.

"I'm. Twenty. One," Cefra hissed, "And I'm more mature than you, and you're twenty three!"

"I'm not asking you to get married!" Tseng cried in exasperation, "I don't even mind if you don't speak throughout the entire mission! But I won't have this ridiculous fighting! Now get out of my office!"

They turned like sullen schoolchildren, and slammed the door as they left. Rude and Elena looked up from their desks.

"What did he want?" Elena asked tentatively, taking in Cefra's thunder-like face.

"Reno…Mission…Together."

"I'll get you some chocolate," Elena got up from her desk, treading on Reno's foot as she passed him.

"This isn't my fault!" He yelled, after he'd stopped swearing, "I'd rather have my eyes pecked out by a deranged chocobo than go with her anywhere!"

"Cool it partner," Rude turned apologetically to Cefra, "Sorry if he's been a little… verbally abusive."

This was one of the first times he'd ever spoken directly to Cefra (he was so shy he flinched if a fly landed on his shoulder) and it shocked her a little, especially as he was blatantly siding with her.

"Traitor," Reno hissed at his friend, and threw himself into his chair, embarking on a major sulk.

"I can't believe this is happening," He was still grumbling five days later, as they waited by the president's sleek black limo. Cefra scowled, but Reno noticed her tapping her foot anxiously.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing."

"Nervous about meeting the big man?"

He was being nice to her? She nodded,

"I guess."

"Nah, he's nothing special," Reno crossed his arms, "But of course, that's just what I think."

"Why?" Now Cefra was really worried, "What does everybody else think?"

"Some people say," Reno lowered his voice dramatically, "They've never seen him cry or bleed. They say that when he was vice-president, his old man was so scared of him, he sent him off on missions that ensured that he was as far away from Shin-Ra as possible. People say that he likes to keep a vile and vicious pet, capable of killing a man. Worst of all, some people think that he prefers to rule Midgar using not money and bribes, but fear. Oh. Here he comes now."

Cefra's eyes were so wide, they were popping out of her head. A bead of sweat trickled down her face. She turned in the direction Reno was looking.

The man striding towards them was tall. His hair was blonde, and he wore a white suit, complete with a white trench coat. Behind him, tail high in the air, was a little black cat.

Cefra stared at Reno,

"Huh?"

He was fighting to keep back laughter. Cefra kicked his shin hard,

"I'm going to kill you!"

So far, the president hadn't said one word to them. He still had a large bruise on his temple, from when the letterbomb had knocked him unconscious. He had spent the two hours it took to drive to Kalm shouting into his mobile phone at some poor receptionist, and was now raging at a gentleman named Reeve, whom Cefra had seen around, often holding big models of reactors and such.

"I don't really care if the site is near an orphanage! Have it torn down by the end of the week, or I'll fire you!" He ended the call by dropping the phone into his glass of whisky. His cat purred on his knee.

"Cefra," He said suddenly, his voice different, smoother, kindlier, "How are you finding things at Shin-Ra?"

"Uh…" Dear god, the president of Shin-Ra was speaking to her, "Very good thank you sir."

Rufus Shinra turned to Reno,

"Did you get the note I sent thanking you about those SOLDIER?"

Reno wasn't at all nervous,

"Sure thing sir, it was no problem."

"Good. I can't afford to have incompetent people in SOLDIER. It slows us down-" The conversation stopped suddenly as the car turned towards the newest reactor, which had been lurking in the distance for some time. There was a crowd of cheering people, and a line of SOLDIER standing guard at various spots. The driver opened the door. Reno got out first, gun in hand, and the president followed him, Cefra close behind.

"I sure as hell hope that AVALANCHE don't show up," Reno muttered as they approached the podium behind the president, "I hate eco-terrorists even more than I hate you."

"If you hate me so much, stop talking to me," Cefra deliberately jogged his shoulder with hers, "Believe me, it would be better for both of us."

"No way!" He jogged her back, "I prefer annoying you. I told you, I like making people dizzy."

"You don't make me dizzy, you make me want to kill something!"

"Will the two of you shut up?" The president suddenly whispered, "I'm trying to control a world here, and I can't do it when my bodyguards aren't concentrating."

"Sorry sir."

They climbed up to the podium. Cefra and Reno stood behind the president as he cleared his throat, and began his speech.

"People of Kalm-"

There was an explosion.

The force of it knocked the three standing at the podium backwards. The people below started screaming, and running in circles, trying to get away. Some already lay in their own blood. Then the gunshots started. Reno crawled over to the President, and dragged him back behind the podium.

"Cefra!"

She lifted her head, her vision slightly blurred. She could see a trail of bullet sparks as they made their way towards her. She couldn't move. She was going to die now. Something grabbed her by the ankle, and pulled her sharply to the side, behind something reassuringly solid.

"I never could work out why Tseng recruited you," She heard Reno say.

"You know, I don't see either of you getting your guns out," The president said coolly. Cefra slowly rose to her knees, her vision clearing.

"I'm okay."

"Nobody asked," Reno replied, "Get your gun out."

They peered around the side of the podium. Most of the people had run from the sight, leaving only the bodies, and several others, all wearing the same uniform, all carrying machine guns. At the moment, they seemed to be battling with the SOLDIER. It wasn't hard to see that they were loosing, quite badly. The president grabbed the microphone off the top of the podium, and bellowed,

"Keep one of them alive!"

Reno fired his gun into the kneecap of one of the enemy soldiers, and nodded in satisfaction as the man gave a cry, and fell. Most of the other soldiers were dead.

"What a crap murder attempt," Reno scoffed.

"Huh?" Cefra frowned, "Murder attempt?"

"Wake up!" He waved in her face, "They were trying to assassinate the President."

"Again?" Rufus Shinra sighed, "How boring."

Cautiously, they emerged from behind the podium. The SOLDIER were patrolling around the bodies, shooting any that twitched. Reno advanced on the one he had shot, and pressed his gun to his head.

"If you tell me something good, I'll think about letting you go."

"Kiss my ass, Shin-Ra scum!"

"Cefra," Reno gestured to the soldier, "If you could be so kind?"

She took a deep breath, and stamped hard on his stomach. She felt the man's ribs crack, and felt sick.

"I repeat my offer," Reno seemed to be enjoying himself. The man mumbled something,

"Sorry? I didn't quite catch that?"

"I said Aska's gonna kill you all!"

"And who might Aska be?" The president joined them, a shotgun appearing from his trench coat.

"He's in charge of all this," The soldier said, "He's trying to create a more powerful version of Shin-Ra, under his name."

"And where might we find Aska?" Cefra asked.

"In his mansion. The one just outside Midgar."

"Outside Midgar?" The president frowned slightly, "Its just an abandoned warehouse."

The soldier spat at him, and Reno kicked him in the head.

"That's what you think!" The soldier laughed like a maniac, "Now let me go!"

"Sure thing," Reno even dragged the man to his feet, "Go back and tell Aska that Shin-Ra is waiting for him."

The man limped away from them, dragging his useless leg behind him. The President raised his shot gun, and fired. It was a good shot, right into the back of the man's head. He fell.

"Nicely done sir," Reno grinned, "I think that now's the time to take our leave yo."

"No way!" Elena stared at them enviously, "There was another attack related to the letter that got sent?"

"Yeah!" Reno and Cefra were reunited in their experience, "We've got loads of information about where Aska is and everything!"

"The soldier we captured was a right dork," Cefra grinned, "Not one ounce of loyalty to his side."

"And we kicked his ass, didn't we Cef?" Reno high fived with her.

"Totally!"

"Whoa. You two are pals now?" Elena shook her head, and exchanged disbelieving glances with Rude, "Now I really have seen everything. I'm getting coffee to celebrate. Who wants coffee?"

There was a chorus of "I do's" and Rude offered to help, so they left with a handful of gil, leaving Cefra and Reno alone.

"Hey," Cefra touched his shoulder, "Listen, I er… I never said thanks for you saving my life back there…you know…when you dragged me out of the way of the bullets."

"No problem," He reddened for some reason, "I'm sure you'll do the same for me one day."

There was a pause.

"You'll be lucky."


	10. Romance

It was raining so darn hard, Cefra could hardly see out of the window. The sky was almost black, although that might have been because it was half five in the morning. She had woken up on her desk a few minutes before. She stared at the calendar Elena had stuck on the wall. Tuesday 19th February. Her heart sank. It was exactly one year since Dak… but on the brighter (was it really brighter) side, she had been working with the Turks for ten months. Ever since the last incident with Aska, nearly two months ago, nothing had happened. It seemed that the mysterious rival had disappeared. Cefra's let her head drop back onto her desk.

"You awake yo?"

"Huh?"

She sat back up again. Reno was standing in front of her. He thrust a coffee into her hands.

"You were asleep. I guess you kinda put in some overtime last night."

"I guess."

"You okay?" He looked at her, frowning, "'Cause no offence, but you look like shit."

"Thanks," She said blankly.

"Whoa," He perched on the side of her desk, "Something's wrong. You didn't rip my head off."

"It's nothing," She just wanted to forget it right now.

"Aw c'mon," He twiddled with the bottom of his ponytail, "I can't tell something's wrong. You can tell me!" He poked her hand playfully.

"You wouldn't understand," She turned away.

"Try me."

"Perceptive, aren't you?"

He grinned,

"Yeah. So tell me, or I'll just hang around here all day."

"Exactly a year ago today…something really bad happened."

"Uh huh."

"If it hadn't happened, I would have just got married the other week."

Reno reeled a little,

"Whoa. That, I was not expecting. What happened?"

"He died."

"Geez. That's pretty hard. I'm sorry."

"He died a year ago today."

Reno looked at his feet, and continued to twist his ponytail around his fingers.

"Reno?" Cefra stared at him suddenly, "How come you never speak about your family?"

He was silent for the first time ever.

"I told you mine," Cefra said sternly, "Now you tell yours."

"There's nothing to tell." He stood up, and went to sit at his own desk, "Nothing much anyway."

"Oh come on!"

He sighed.

"I never had a dad. It was just me and my mom. And then she died. Okay?"

"How old were you?"

"Five."

"May I ask how she died."

"Committed suicide. Did it right in front of me actually. Slit her wrists. Not before she gave me these though." He pointed at the two tattoos on his cheeks.

"Your mom gave you tattoos?"

"Come here."

She moved towards him, and he took her hand, and guided it up to where the tattoos were. She gently ran her fingers over them.

"There's a sort of line under each of them. What are they?"

"Scars. My mom, she-" He paused, "She wasn't quite…right. When I tried to stop her from killing herself, I think she tried to cut my eyes out."

"Oh my God."

"Nah, it was a long time ago. I guess I'm over it."

"Yeah."

They stared at each other. Cefra realised her hands were still on his cheeks. She took them away, but he caught her hands. She blushed. He was so darn tall, and… gawd, she'd never noticed how good looking he was. She moved closer to him…


	11. Two Bombshells

What Elena didn't expect to happen when she walked into the office first thing in the morning was to be charged at by Cefra, and hugged so tightly she could hardly breathe.

"Cefra!" She cried, "What the hell? Where were you and Reno all yesterday?"

"He loves me Elena!"

"_What_?" Elena dropped her stuff on her desk, "_Who_?"

But Cefra was off in a world of her own.

"He told me after we'd been making out for like, a whole hour! He said he kinda always had! Ever since he first saw me getting beaten up by those guys outside the Handy Hi-Fi Store! He just didn't know how to show it!"

"Who!?"

"He told me loads of things! And oh my god, he is the best kisser in the whole damn world!" She laughed wildly, and spun around in circles, "Its like I've had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders because I can finally move on from Dak!"

"WHO!!!!!!" Elena shrieked, catching hold of Cefra's suit collar and shaking her.

"Reno, Elena, can you believe it?"

Elena sat down.

"What?…Reno…you…kiss…I…don't…believe…it!" She spluttered, "But…but you…you hated each other!"

"I started to feel something after he saved my life," Cefra spun round in her chair, "It was only a tiny little thing, but it started to get bigger. And then yesterday morning…" She sighed, and went off into a daydream.

"What about yesterday night?" Elena grabbed her friend's hands, "You didn't…?"

"We did!"

"OH MY GOD! Hang on… IS THAT WHY YOU WERE GONE ALL DAY?!"

Cefra blushed, and nodded.

"So you and him huh?" Rude appeared in the doorway, "I could tell something was different about him. He was practically bouncing around the lobby when I first came in."

"He's coming up here now?" Cefra cried. Rude nodded.

"This is going to be…disgusting," Elena purposefully spun her chair so that she wasn't facing Cefra.

And then he entered. Cefra suddenly turned very red, and very tongue tied.

"Hey," She murmured. He grinned at her,

"Hey yo," He kissed her, unembarrassed, and then pulled her to his desk with him, "Have you said anything to these guys yet?"

"Kind of," She smiled.

"You told them everything, didn't you?"

"Sorry."

"S'alright-" He stopped suddenly, and peered over her shoulder. Cefra turned. Elena and Rude were staring at them, "Well I'm not about to start making out with her on my desk, if that's what you want."

"I didn't want to hear that," Tseng came out of his office. His face was a bit grey.

"Is something wrong?" Elena touched his arm. Unlike Cefra and Reno just now, she and Tseng kept their little romance private.

"The president just called," He said to all of them, "He wants us to stop any kind of mission or work we're doing now, and begin to prepare for something else."

"What?" Reno detached himself from Cefra.

"Next month," Tseng bit his bottom lip, "He wants us to break into Aska's Mansion."


	12. Loosing Reno

They crept silently into the guard's hut. Reno stepped forwards, and broke sentry's neck before he could alert anybody to their presence. Then, he bent down, and quickly searched his pockets.

"There's a keycard here," He said, flicking it towards Tseng, "It says "all access". I take it we'll need that." The electricity from his electric-magna rod made the twenty or so images on the miniature computer screens flicker.

"We need to shut down those cameras," Elena searched the room, "There's no switch!"

"Rude," Tseng turned to the silent Turk, "Find a way of shutting these things off."

Instantly, Rude tapped into a laptop that sat on the sentry's desk. A screen demanding a shut-down code flashed up, and Rude typed something in. One by one, the screens went blank.

"How the hell did you work out the code yo?" Reno looked impressed. Rude paused, and then pointed to a piece of paper on the wall. It read "SHUT DOWN CODE: 280391 A5KA".

"So much for our observatory skills," Cefra grinned, patting Reno on the back as they left the hut.

There was nobody about as they silently crossed the gravel driveway and approached the giant concrete building. A single metal door was the only entrance. Tseng swiped the keycard through a scanner, and the door slid open.

The inside of Aska's mansion was a surprising contrast to the outside. Almost everything was marble; marble floors, marble staircases leading off in every possible direction. The foyer was full of sculptures of one man, and in the middle of the massive marble fountain that stood in the middle of the room was the biggest statue of all.

"Somebody has a major crush on himself," Elena muttered.

"Yeah. Reno." Rude cracked one of his rare jokes. Reno punched his friend's arm hard as everybody sniggered.

"Not enough to erect a twenty foot statue of myself," He grinned suddenly, "But if I did, darn that would be a good-looking statue." He looked sideways at Cefra, who was scowling at him, "Calm down, I'm only joking."

"Lets go this way," Tseng scanned the room quickly, and they edged along the wall, keeping in the dark shadows. They came to one of the wide staircases. It was completely clear. Staying low, they climbed to the top.

"This whole place looks deserted," Cefra frowned.

"Yes, but nobody loosen their hold on their guns," Tseng warned, "People could appear at any minute. If the place was empty, then there would be any cameras or security guards."

Right in cue, footsteps sounded from the bottom of the corridor. Concealing themselves in various places (god those statues were useful), they waited.

Two women walked past, wearing lab coats. Cefra frowned. The mission file hadn't said anything about scientific research. She could hear their conversation.

"So how is your department doing? I heard you've made some extraordinary discoveries."

"Yes, its been amazing! Of course, most of the subjects have died, but the other day we managed to get one to breathe on its own."

"No way!"

"Yeah, it was awesome…at first."

"Why, what happened next?"

"It breathed for about thirty seconds, and then we lost it."

"No!"

"Unfortuantly, we still haven't worked out how to keep them alive."

"Is it not upsetting to see them die?"

"I'll admit, at first it used to creep me out a little, but then you realise its for the good of the company, and then its not so bad."

The two scientists veered to the left suddenly, and one of them ran another keycard through the scanner. A door in the wall opened, and they disappeared through. Cautiously, Cefra emerged from where she was hiding.

"What the hell was that all about?" Reno frowned.

"It sounds like their conducting experiments on dead things," Tseng was equally confused, "But where the hell would a lab be in a place like this?"

"Those scientists used a keycard like ours to get through that door," Elena took the card from Tseng, "Maybe we should try it and see." Gingerly, she placed the card in the scanner, and drew it down. There was a big alarm above the door warning them of the consequences should they fail. Everybody held their breath. A green light! The door opened, and they slipped through.

"Shit!" Reno's exclamation escaped him before he could stop it. Cefra's breath was caught as she froze at the sight before them.

It was a massive laboratory, that seemed to have several floors both above and below them. They were standing on what appeared to be a small platform, with two spiral staircases on either side, leading down and up to the rest of the lab. The hundreds of scientists on the floors below were so engrossed with their work to notice the five intruders. What they were working on made Cefra feel faint.

The walls were lined with vertical incubation tanks, filled with a sickly yellow liquid. Each one contained a child. They all wheeled round. There were three identical tanks on the wall behind them. Cefra walked forwards.

"Cefra!" Reno's voice was wary.

She wiped away the condensation on the glass.

The child inside was a little girl. Her clouds of blonde hair floated eerily about her face, which was pale and pinched. She did not look human at all, and her eyes, which were empty and half closed, were white. She was surrounded by tubes; two in her nostrils, one in her mouth, one in the back of her head, and one in the centre of her torso, which Cefra realised was keeping her heart beating. She stepped backwards as if in a trance.

"Who would do such a thing?" She heard Elena croak hoarsely.

"Cefra?" Reno touched her shoulder.

"Why?"

"Because these people are sick yo. They'd do anything for power."

"These tanks… they're like the ones Hojo has. Does Shin-Ra experiment on humans too?"

"I don't know."

"She's so young. She's like a baby!"

"Stop looking," Reno pulled her away, "There's no point in looking."

"Hey!"

They spun round, and stared angrily at the three guards running towards them. One glance told them that these guys were strong, but only human.

"Intruder alert!" Bellowed the leader of the three guards, and before they could stop him, smashed a glass covering on a large red button on the wall. The lights instantly changed from green to red, and the alarms went off, deafening them. The guards came at them together. One came right at Cefra. There was no time to shoot. She ducked the heavy blow he sent her, and blocked the deft kick. Catching hold of his leg, she brought her arm down heavily upon it. The crack made her feel sick. The guard screamed in agony, and she smashed his head into the glass that littered the floor. He screamed again, glass sticking out of his head, blood pouring from his eye. With one swift kick in the stomach, she sent him flying over the safety rail. There were screams from the scientists who had not fled the laboratory the moment the alarm went off.

Cefra straightened up, in time to see Elena shoot one guard in the stomach, from where he had her by the hair, and Rude break the back of the remaining one.

"We've overstayed our welcome," Reno commented, and then dived downwards suddenly. The guard who had been shot in the stomach was just alive. Reno had him by the throat.

"Tell us what you're doing here!" He snarled, "Or I'll make your death even more painful."

The guard said nothing. Reno reached down and snapped one of his fingers. The guard groaned in agony, but still said nothing. Reno snapped another finger.

"Talk bastard!"

When the guard still said nothing, Reno snapped his wrist. This time, the guard screamed,

"I don't know, alright? Why would they tell me? I'm just a guard!"

"I guess you're right," Reno sighed, and then shot him in the head. A small splatter of blood matter splashed onto his cheek. He wiped it away in disgust.

"I think we've seen enough to send a decent enough report to the president," Tseng said grimly, "All he said to do was to have a look around. We've certainly done that. Let's get out of here before any more of those guards come."

"The keycard!" Elena shrieked, "Its not working!"

"They must have changed the system when the alarm went off!" Tseng frowned, "I guess we'll have to find a new way out."

They ran down one of the spiral staircases, and into a main part of the lab, trying not to look at the children lying half cut open on the "operation" tables. There was another door opposite them.

"It needs a keycard," Rude studied it for a moment. He turned and gestured to the other doors, randomly dotted about, "They all need keycards."

"Are we stuck in here?" Cefra asked, desperately looking round for another exit.

"No," Reno pointed upwards, "The vent."

"How are we gonna get up there?" Elena frowned.

Without a word, Reno took a small run up, and jumped. He caught hold of the vent, and it came out of the ceiling, and came down with him to the floor.

"Have you already forgotten the "special training" we were given? Situations like these are what we were trained for yo."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Reno," Elena's voice was muffled, "Can't you hurry up? Your ass is in my face."

"Enjoy the show," Came the cocky retort.

They were crawling through the narrow vent in single file. Reno was leading them, and Tseng brought up the rear. They had no idea where they were going. Below them, and through the walls, they could hear the footsteps of the guards as they searched for them.

"Is now the right time to say that I'm _really_ starting to get claustrophobic?" Rude groaned, a bead of sweat trickling down his head.

"Get off my hand!" Cefra squealed in the darkness.

There was a sudden long, drawn out creak.

"Oh shit." Reno sighed dramatically, and then the vent gave way beneath them. They landed in a crumpled mess, bruised and blinking in the sudden light.

"Reno, I know we're going at and all," Cefra said, looking up at Reno who was sprawled on top of her, "But now is hardly the time."

He didn't hear the joke.

"Oh shit."

They had fallen into what appeared to be a men's changing room. Staring at them as if they were aliens from space, was a whole group of Aska's soldiers, who had obviously just finished some sort of training session, because they were all carrying machine guns.

Elena acted extremely fast.

"Hi boys," She smiled, her voice becoming higher, and girly, "Me and my group here are a bit lost. Do you think you could show us the way to the exit."

"Nobody's that thick," Murmured Rude to Reno, but the soldiers were nodding, and grinning stupidly.

"We'll escort you to the exit ma'am," One of them held the door open for them all. Cefra prayed they wouldn't meet anybody else on the way. They were being escorted like guests out of Aska's mansion.

"Hey!"

"Oh shit!" Reno groaned again.

Another troop of soldiers were running towards them. The troop escorted them looked confused for a moment, and then cottoned on, lifting their guns.

"Run!" Tseng bellowed, and they dived through a random door, which just lead into another corridor. Cefra pulled the bolt and locked it. They shot down the corridor, and then came to a place that branched off either to the left or the right. A sign above the left way read, "this way to the gardens and vineyards" and the one above the right read "helipad, above".

"Rude, we left the chopper behind a vineyard!" Tseng remembered the extremely out of place grapevines, "You go that way and bring it up to the helipad, and we'll meet you there!"

Rude nodded and vanished down the corridor.

A sudden hail of bullets, announcing that the soldiers had broken through the door, made them quickly flee, the bullets sparking at their heels. Luckily for them, the soldier's armour weighed them down, and made them much slower, so they were able to stay some way ahead of them. As they began to climb a flight of stairs, Cefra noticed that Reno had gone very white, and was lagging behind.

"Come on!" She cried, and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him after her. His hand was slippery. But not with sweat.

"Oh my God!" She shrieked, staring at the blood on her fingers, "Reno's been shot!"

"Its not serious…ish," He grumbled.

They tore towards the helipad entrance. The doors were thick, heavy metal, automatic, and slid open for them. The moment they were outside, Tseng tapped something into a keypad. The doors made a strange grinding sound, and slid shut, the first soldier only centimetres from it. Cefra pulled Reno's shirt jacket open. There was blood spreading across his white shirt, coming from a wound in his chest.

"A bullet sort of went across my stomach," He hissed with pain, "I don't think it got any of my internal thingies, but I'm loosing blood quite fast." He sank to the floor suddenly, and they took cover behind a large packing crate.

"I've jammed the door!" Tseng jerked away from the doors as the storm of bullets from the other side made tiny lumps appear, "But it won't hold long. We've got about two minutes."

"But even if Rude gets here on time, they'll shoot the chopper right out of the air!" Elena cried, "There's no point. We're done for."

"Not," Said Reno suddenly, "If one of us stays behind to occupy them."

Silence fell. Cefra shook her head.

"I know what you're thinking," Her voice was strangely high and choked, "No. Please don't do it."

"How much time can you give us?" Tseng's face was white. Cefra rounded on him.

"You can't be _considering_ this? No! You can't let him do it!"

"As long as you need," The blood from the bullet wound was soaking Reno's chest, spreading across his shirt.

"Reno!" Cefra took his hand and stared straight into his eyes, "Please. Please don't do this!"

"If I stay behind these crates until they break through I can distract them from shooting at the chopper," Reno ignored her, "And maybe take a few of them with me. With this wound I won't last long anyway."

"Don't talk shit!" Even though his blood was soaking her hands, she still clung to him desperately, "Come with us."

There was a sudden roar and gusts of wind blew across the helipad as the chopper appeared, and began to land, Rude at the controls.

Reno looked at Elena,

"Yo Elena. Look after Cefra won't you?"

"NO!" This time, Cefra flung herself across him, "You don't need to do this! There must be another way," Sudden inspiration, "Then I'm staying with you!"

"No!" He looked at her finally, "No way! I'm doing this to protect you guys. You need to go with them Cefra!"

"Reno?" Cefra managed to stop crying. She took his hands again, "I can't loose somebody else. I've already lost Dak. Please don't make me loose you as well."

"Cefra!" Tseng called her name sharply from the helicopter, "Get here now!"

"We can't wait forever!"

"If you came with us now, we could make it!" Cefra tried to drag him to his feet, "And then everything will be alright."

"Get in the chopper Cefra," He said bluntly.

"Reno, I-"

"Get in the chopper."

"Why are you doing this? Don't you love me?"

"Very, very much. Get in the damn chopper, or I'll shoot you."

His gun was pointing at her head so suddenly, it made her freeze for a second. Then, shaking, she got to her feet, turned, and walked away. Without looking back, she said,

"I love you."

He watched her go, the heartbreak never once showing on his bloodstained face.

He did say one thing though, just as she'd stepped on the helicopter.

"I love you to, yo."

Cefra paused, and then tried to throw herself back out, but Tseng was too fast, and grabbed her round the waist. She fought to free herself from his grasp, but he held her so tightly she couldn't even headbutt him.

"Reno!" She screamed.

Reno groaned, and slowly rolled onto his stomach, the wound in his chest causing agonising stabs of pain as he pushed himself to his knees. His eyes were fixed upon the doors, now riddled with dents where the bullets had struck on the other side. He felt a rush of air as the helicopter propellers began to turn. Very faintly, over the roar, he could hear Cefra screaming his name over and over again. Even though his heart was tearing to get back to her, he ignored it, and loaded his gun. The doors shook suddenly, and burst open. The troop of soldiers burst onto the helipad.

"They're getting away!"

The hail of bullets told Reno all he needed to know. He leapt up from behind the crates,

"Surprise yo!" And fired.


	13. Dead?

_He awoke painfully, his entire body screaming with pain. He remembered the bullets, and the advancing soldiers, and then the brief, sharp prick in his neck, and then nothing. He became aware of tight grips around his arms, and realised he was being dragged over cold marble floors. His wound had stopped bleeding, but he had never felt weaker in his life. There was the sound of a door opening, and then he was thrown roughly forward. He landed on his face, and felt hot blood pour down his nose. A rough kick turned him on his back._

"_Gentlemen!" A smooth, well spoken voice snapped sharply, "You will treat our guest from Shin-Ra with respect!"_

_He was hauled upwards, onto his knees. He managed to get a look at the speaker. So this was the man in charge of it all. He reached for his gun, his limbs sobbing defiance. It wasn't there._

"_Unfortuantly, your behaviour in my laboratory and on the helipad gave the soldiers perfect means to confiscate your weapons," The speaker said silkily, "I think my scientists will enjoy studying them. Funny how Shin-Ra's most inside department don't use Jenova cells on their members."_

"_Well, ya know," He spat, "The big man doesn't like to use precious Jenova cells on us Turks. Jenova cells are for the SOLDIER only."_

"_I see," Said the man in front of him, "And "Turks" would be Shin-Ra's pet name for the Investigation Division of the General Affairs department?"_

"_Whatever."_

_His captor sighed, and shook his head sadly._

"_Well, whatever you are, I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish you quite severely. Your people killed three of my staff in the laboratories, witnessed top secret experiments, and you personally killed seventeen of the soldiers on the helipad."_

"_Experiments on kids!"_

"_Oh come now!" His captor looked almost hurt, "They're not naturally born! My scientists have been working for years to get the artificially created. They're hardly human!"_

"_They're still kids!"_

"_And since when does somebody working for Shin-Ra care about that? I hear some the experiments your scientists carry out are on their own workers without them knowing it!"_

_He was silent, because he knew these words were the truth._

"_When the experiments are complete, I shall have the first indestructible army!"_

"_Wrong!" He said, "A certain Fuhito of the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE created the first-"_

_A heavy blow to the side of his head knocked him to the captor's feet._

"_I don't want to hold up our guest any longer gentlemen," The captor said, "Take him down to the labs and string him up with the other ones who tried to stop me."_

"_You won't ever overcome Shin-Ra!" He yelled as the guards dragged him away, "We'll stop you every fucking time!"_

"_Shin-Ra?" Aska laughed, "What a small imagination you have my friend. I'm after the world!"_

_After that, there was only darkness. _


	14. Two Years Later

_Two years later…_

"Ninety four…ninety five…ninety six…"

"Cefra…"

"Ninety seven…ninety eight…ninety nine…"

"Cefra, stop it!"

"One hundred!" Cefra breathed out and raised her bleeding knuckles triumphantly into the air. The soles of her feet were also bleeding. Elena stood to one side, a worried frown creasing her features.

"You've been practising for four hours now. You've worn your hands and feet to the bone. Go home now."

"How can I expect to maintain my levels in karate without practising?" Cefra balled her fists, and readied herself for another attack at the punch bag, but Elena blocked her, gently pushing her fists down again.

"I know that this time of year is difficult for you-"

"It's not!"

"Then why have you got rings around your eyes? Why are you scaring Dirk shitless every time he speaks to you? Why are you working twenty four hours straight?" Elena folded her arms.

"No reason," Cefra shrugged.

"You're grieving."

Cefra froze.

"Stop talking Elena."

"We all miss him Cef, its been hard on all of us."

"Stop talking."

"But we understand that its been the hardest on you."

"I said STOP TALKING!" Cefra kicked the punch bag as hard as she could. The bolts holding it into the wall shuddered, and then it fell to the floor, leaving her standing breathless, raw fists clenched, "I'm not grieving, I'm not having a tough time, and I'm NOT WEAK!"

"Nobody is saying you are!" Elena slammed a hand to her head, exasperated, "But you're not acting normally. You haven't acted normally for two years."

"Maybe that's because I'm too busy preparing for the next move by Aska!" Cefra snapped, "God knows, I'm the only one here who is."

"There's been nothing for two years Cefra," Elena shook her head, "We have to be logical here. Aska has done nothing since we broke into his mansion. Ever since we spilled everything he's doing to the papers, there's been nothing. His mansion is cleared out, and he's disappeared. Along with everything."

"He'll come back."

"He won't. And-" Elena's voice suddenly rose, and she turned away "And neither will Reno!" She half expected Cefra to hit her, but nothing came. She turned round. Cefra was gone.

"Dammit!" She screamed, and kicked the punch bag.

"Keep working," Cefra said these words over and over again in her head, "Keep working. If you keep working, there'll be no time to think, no time to rest. No grieving. I'm not grieving again." She tapped into her laptop, "Get files for something for somebody."

"Uh… Cefra?"

"WHAT!" She slammed her hands down onto her desk, and terrified the latest addition to the Turks, Dirk. He jumped, and dropped half his files, sweating.

"I…I uh…Tseng asked me to…to…" He trailed off, and held out a thin brown envelope. Cefra snatched it away from him, and he practically ran back to his desk. Reno's desk. No! Stop thinking! Cefra shook her head, and tore the envelope open.

_Cefra-_

_As you are aware, you have been working under the job title "junior IDGA" (junior Turk). As you have been employed by us for a considerable amount of time (two years, ten months) I am pleased to inform you that you have been promoted to "senior IDGA" (senior Turk). _

_On a more personal note; Cefra, please go home an rest. Dirk has to take some stealth exams in two days, and quite frankly I don't want you around him while he does them, so I am signing you off for a month . No arguments._

_-Tseng_

Rude, Elena, and Tseng entered the room just as Cefra let out a bull's bellow, and punched through the back of her chair.

"You got my note I presume?" Tseng said dryly, and proceeded to his office, but found his way barred.

"Excuse me Cefra."

"You're not signing me off for a whole month."

"I'm sorry, but I am."

Cefra glared at him,

"I swear, if you sign me off-"

She didn't finish. Tseng leapt forward, and twisted her arm up round her back. He had never looked so angry before.

"Tseng!" Cried Elena. Dirk almost wet himself.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear!" Tseng hissed in Cefra's ear, "My orders are made to be carried out. I've been working here longer than you've been an adult! I don't care if it means you'll have to cry over Reno, because quite frankly, you need to. Look at you, you're killing yourself! You don't eat, you don't sleep, and you never stop working! Take the month's worth of leave, or-" He broke off suddenly, and let her go, "I apologise for my actions. They were uncalled for. I lost control."

Cefra massaged her shoulder,

"Whatever."

"But my mind is made up. In two days time, you're not to come back here for a month."

On her last day before leave, Cefra slumped in her chair, doing nothing for the first time in two years. Tseng had confiscated all her writing equipment and files, leaving her only to pass the time with solitaire on her laptop. Nobody in the office was looking at her. They had been avoiding her gaze ever since Tseng had attacked her.

"You have e-mail"

Cefra sat up a little, and clicked the mouse on her inbox.

**Hello, Cefra. I'm glad we managed to track you down. Our guest speaks a lot about you in his dreams. When he's not screaming. You know who I am. I have a proposition for you. Here at my headquarters, we're very busy, too busy to return any special post. What I am saying is, if you want your lover back, come and get him. He is no longer needed, and it would be too kind of my men to kill him. If you can get to my headquarters (and I will send the details) and retrieve him, he's yours. And if not, if my men catch you… you're mine. I hear you're a pretty girl. Maybe you will be a bonus to me.**

Cefra stood up, and grabbed her coat off the back of her chair.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked.

"I'm taking my leave."


	15. final

"Elena?" Dirk stared in frustration at his computer screen, "Do you have a spare floppy disk I could borrow? Mine's out of space."

"Sorry," Elena shook her head, "I need to buy another one, actually."

"Rude?" Dirk turned to the silent Turk.

"…" He shook his head.

"Cefra might," Elena gestured to Cefra's empty desk. Dirk froze.

"I don't want to cause her any trouble," He muttered. Elena looked up from her notebook,

"Listen Dirk, Cefra's only the way she is because you're replacing somebody she misses very much. Its not personal. Just take a disk, and she'll never notice."

Warily, as if Cefra herself might jump out of her desk and bite him, Dirk moved towards the pile of disks. He selected the first one on the pile, and inserted it into his computer. He saved his document, and then something caught his eye.

ASKA-EMAIL-RENO

ASKA-EMAIL-DIRECTIONS

He clicked on them, and scanned down the page.

"Tseng!" He cried, "Rude! Elena!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cefra left her car hidden some way away from the spot Aska had sent in a second email. She didn't want them to know of her presence. In truth, she was quite disappointed. The place looked like a run down warehouse in the middle of a desert. One look told her there was no entry point other than the small one in front of her, and that needed a keycard. She scowled. God, she'd been here about twenty seconds and she'd already failed her mission. Next to the entry point she had come through, there was an abandoned wooden hut. This reminded her of the guard's hut outside Aska's mansion, and she moved towards it, keeping low. She peered inside. There was no one in there.

There were footsteps suddenly, and Cefra flattened herself against the wall of the wooden hut. A single guard paced around the side of the main warehouse. He was thickset, and looked about as smart as a dead cat Cefra had once seen in the middle of a road. She had an idea. She threw her coat into a corner, and unbuttoned the first few buttons on her shirt.

"This is so demeaning," She said to herself, and emerged from behind the hut, "Excuse me!"

The guard stopped. Instantly, his eyes flickered towards her shirt,

"How may I help you ma'am?"

"Listen, I'm in a little bit of a pinch. Do you think you could get me into the building?"

"May I ask why ma'am?"

"There's a man I want to sort some things out with. Reno. He's a prisoner."

The guard grinned stupidly,

"What kinda trouble?"

"He slept with my little sister, and I don't like that at all, especially as he'd slept with me not two hours before."

"What a dick head," The guard nodded, "Okay, I'll get you in. But there ain't no Reno in the cells, only the one the big man captured and employed as his second."

Cefra bit back her gasp of horror. Surely, there was no way Reno would betray Shin-Ra! Was there?

The guard used a keycard to enter through the main door, and led her across a marble foyer very similar to the last one. There was a lift at one end of the foyer, and they moved towards it. Once they were inside, the guard pressed a button, and they seemed to move downwards. The lift opened onto a very long corridor.

There was a door at the end of the corridor. Near the top, there was a metal plate. It read,

"Reno."

"He never had a last name," Cefra murmured.

"Pardon?" The guard asked, knocking on the door.

"Oh, nothing," Cefra smiled sweetly at him.

"Come in!" A voice which definitely wasn't Reno's called.

"Sorry babe," The guard suddenly caught hold of Cefra's neck, and shoved her into the room. It was full of guards, and another man, who stood with his back to her.

One of the guards kneed Cefra hard in the stomach. Winded, she crumpled forwards. The guards caught her arms, and dragged her through a door. She was thrown to the ground, where she almost made very close contact with somebody's feet. She pushed herself up, and stared at Aska for the first time.

He was older than she had expected. Not exactly old, but withered, like an apple that had only just fallen off its tree. His hair was greying, and was slicked back. His glittering blue eyes were cold as ice, and seemed to be the only living thing in his tall structure.

"You must be Cefra," He said. His voice was smooth, and well pronounced.

"Where is he?" She spat. Aska raised his hands,

"All in good time my dear."

"What have you done with him?"

"Oh, I can tell you that!" Aska suddenly looked strained, "I tortured him."

Cefra gasped.

"I tortured him for two years straight. I've broken every bone in his body, and then fixed them so I can break them again. I've starved him for weeks, I've pushed him off buildings, I've injected him with drugs that put him in terrible pain. I've had him beaten, stabbed, half drowned, electrocuted. I've done nearly everything to him over these last two years, but he won't give anything away!"

"Pardon?" Cefra's body was convulsing in horror.

"He won't say a single thing about Shin-Ra! How much pain can this man endure before he cracks? Its infuriating!" Aska banged his hand down on the desk behind him, "But no matter. He's joined us now."

Cefra clutched her hands in horror. Aska laughed.

"Not intentionally of cause. I keep him under constant hypnotism with this little beauty," He took a small stick like machine out of his pocket, "One flash of this will keep him under for an hour or two. It used to be longer, but after long periods of being exposed to it, the body builds up a resilience. Of course, a second flash would reverse the effects, but I'm not stupid enough to do that," He placed the machine onto the desk, "I suppose you'd like to see him?"

"Tell me where he is!"

Aska stepped to one side.

Sitting at the desk, or rather, slumped at the desk, was Reno. Cefra gasped again. He was so emaciated and bruised he was almost unrecognisable. There were wounds on his face and hands, and some of his fingers were misshapen, where they had been broken.

"You bastard!" Cefra stared at Aska in hatred.

The sound of a mobile phone interrupted her. Aska took it out of his other pocket, and opened it.

"Yes? You're joking? He's calling now? And there's a disturbance down in the foyer. Fine, I'll take his call in my office." He shut the phone, and turned to his soldier, "All of you go to the foyer. I need to take a phone call."

As they made their way out, several of the soldiers accidentally on purpose stood on her fingers. Aska waved at her as he left.

The moment Cefra heard the key turn in the lock, she ran towards the desk. Reno was slumped forwards, his head resting on the polished wood. She lifted him upwards, and laid him on the floor,

"Reno? Reno? Its me!"

No answer. His eyes didn't even open.

"Its Cefra! Do you not remember me?" She felt like crying. She shook him hard. His eyelids fluttered slightly. "You can't wake up, can you? Aska's hypnotised you or something. That little flashy thing!" She leapt to her feet, and began to ransack the room, tearing it apart to find the little contraption. She was sure Aska hadn't put it back in his pocket, or taken it out with him. Success! She lifted it out from under a red folder, and held it in front of Reno's eyes, like Aska had done. Turning her head away, she pressed the switch. The same sound she had heard before, a low note that went higher, and higher sounded throughout the room, and then stopped.

Reno stirred, and opened his eyes. They were the same eyes she remembered from two years ago. The green eyes stared at Cefra.

"Hi," She smiled, her lips quivering, on the verge of tears again.

"Cefra?" His voice was weak, "No way. You got in here?"

"Not very well. They've locked me in here with you." She cradled his head gently, "Look what they've done to you."

"S'alright," He twitched painfully, "I think I can move…sort of."

She kissed him suddenly, like she had done that first time.

"Whoa," He smiled back at her, "Somebody missed me yo."

"I thought you were dead for two years! They replaced you at Shin-Ra and everything!"

"How is everyone?"

"Fine. Well, the new recruit is a complete idiot, I think, but everybody else seems to like him. We have to get out of here before they come back!" Cefra pulled Reno to a standing position. His legs cracked as he stood, "Can you walk okay?"

"I'm fine," He gasped, although his eyes watered with the agony of the stiffness, "I'm just not used to walking."

He tottered round the office a few times, each time standing a little straighter, and hobbling less. He tried a slow jog, but almost toppled over.

"If we need to run, I'll support you." Cefra turned to the door. It was definitely locked. She reached into her pocket, "I love the old fashioned ways." She drew out a large gold hairpin, which she kept for this particular purpose, and began to pick the lock. Reno leaned against the door, rubbing the back of his legs.

"Hey Reno," Cefra said as she picked away at the lock, "All that stuff that Aska said he did to you. Is it true? And did you really not give a single thing away?"

"Yes its true," Reno said bitterly, "And no I didn't."

"I guess everybody had it wrong about you. You aren't just a loveable fool. You're a heroic loveable fool."

"You hear that," He grinned, "I'm heroic and loveable."

The door clicked reassuringly open. They peered around the frame cautiously. There was nobody there. They stepped out into the hallway.

"This way," Cefra began to head to the right, but running footsteps made her skid to a halt, and run the other way.

"Shit, they're on to us!"

"Cefra," He sounded irritated rather than weak, "My fucking legs aren't moving!"

She grabbed his hand, and pulled him along after her,

"You've been tortured for two years. I'm sure you're entitled to a bit of stiffness and pain."

"But its so annoying!" He groaned, "I used to be the fastest!"

"You will be!"

They turned into another corridor. The footsteps were coming closer to them. Reno was slowing them down.

"Look," He said, "I know you don't want to hear this, but why don't you leave me here, and get outta this place?"

"Oh, shut the fuck up won't you?" She snapped, "We're not doing this again."

"I love your sincerity and temper," He said snidely, "They're the two things I love most about you."

The soldiers chasing them were almost upon them. Cefra could see their shadows on the walls. Hang on and minute-

"Cefra, for god's sake its us!"

Cefra turned, just in time to see Rude practically lift Reno into the air with the massive guy hug he gave him,

"I fucking thought you were dead you bastard!"

"Rude, you're breaking my back!"

"You're alive!" For the first time ever, Rude took his sunglasses off, revealing dark brown eyes, now swimming with tears.

"I always knew he was a softie," Elena smiled. She planted a kiss on Reno's cheek,

"Welcome back ass hole. You had us worried for a minute."

"Making people dizzy yo."

Tseng remained cool and professional,

"Of course, you are entitled to a full reinstatement of your status. You have lost nothing-"

"Tseng," Reno outstretched his arms, "Give me a hug."

"But I-"

"Give me a hug."

"I need to go through your status-"

"Give. Me. A. Fucking. Hug," Reno said dangerously, "Act like you're pleased to see me."

Tseng grinned suddenly, and thumped Reno hard on the back,

"You never change Reno, do you? It good to have you back with us." He leaned towards Cefra, "Don't tell him that I almost broke your arm that one time."

"I won't," Cefra smirked, "But how the hell did you get here? How did you know?"

"Its all Dirk's fault," Elena indicated the Turk who had still said nothing, "He used one of your disks and found the email from Aska on there. He acted extremely quickly, informing us straight away and everything."

"I… er," Dirk fiddled with his tie.

Cefra glared at him, and he looked at the floor quickly.

"Reno," Tseng pulled Dirk forward, "I'd like you to meet Dirk Chalmers. Your replacement."

"Ouch," Reno nodded at Dirk, "Hey there."

"Obviously, you'll both be working for Shin-Ra now," Elena said, "You can never have enough Turks."

"It just looks cooler when there's less of us." Rude added.

"Um, you gave me my recruiting speech years ago," Reno rolled his eyes, "Except it was you and Verdot."

"We need to find Aska," Tseng changed the subject, "We need answers. Where is his office?"

"There was a secret entrance that was in my office," Reno frowned, "But I'm not sure how he got to it. I don't usually remember much after I've been hypnotised."

They made their way back to Reno's office. Reno stared at the shiny name plate on the door.

"You know something? I might actually miss this, yo. Can I have my own name plate on the door when we get back?"

"No."

"Darn."

They entered the office. There didn't seem to be anywhere where a secret doorway would be.

"Well this sucks," Cefra folded her arms.

Dirk began to run his hands over all the books in the bookcases, and over every surface available.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cefra frowned. Dirk jumped as he always did when she spoke to him. Reno sniggered.

"Back when I was in the crook business, I could break in and out of anywhere," Dirk stammered, "If there's a secret doorway here, I'll find it." He began pulling the desk drawers out of their slots. There was one that would not open, and this interested him, "Reno, do you know where the key is for this drawer?"

"Er," Reno racked his still muddled brain, "It's in the pot plant on this window I think."

Dirk went to the plant, and stuck his hand into the soil. After a few moments of scrabbling around, he drew out a silver key. He inserted it into the lock, and opened the drawer. There was a grinding noise, and part of the panelled wall slid upwards, revealing a flight of stairs leading upwards. Tseng took out his gun.

"I'll go first." He screwed a silencer to the barrel, and disappeared up the steps. Rude followed silently, and Elena went after him, closely followed by Dirk, who didn't want to be left alone with Cefra.

"Who _is_ that guy?" Reno shook his head, "He acts like he's about to shit himself any second."

"He's scared of me," Cefra sounded a little ashamed, "I thought of him as your replacement, and wasn't exactly pleasant to him."

"Poor guy," Reno grinned.

He limped slowly up the stairs, Cefra close behind him. They caught up with the others. The staircase seemed to go on forever.

"Who the hell are you?" A guard was standing in front a door. He raised his gun, "Who said you could come up here?"

Tseng shot him. The guard staggered backwards, and fell into the door, knocking it right off its hinges into the room behind it. A man, speaking on the phone inside, didn't even turn round.

The office was large and round, but only seemed to have a desk inside it, with a laptop and phone.

Tseng pointed his gun at Aska's back,

"Okay sir, turn around slowly, with your hands where I can see them. Put the phone down."

Slowly, Aska placed the phone back onto his desk, and turned around. Cefra gazed into the face of the madman.

"Greetings, Turks," He said, taking a little mock bow, "Welcome to Casa Aska."

"Enough of the pleasantries," Tseng frowned, "Enough of the dramatic effects, enough of the killing, and enough of the secrecy. Today sir, you're going to tell us everything."

Aska raised one eyebrow slightly, as he spotted Reno.

"They managed to reverse the effects of the hypnosis then?" He sounded amused, "I'm impressed. I didn't expect a lap-dog to have brains."

"Yeah well," Reno shrugged painfully, "Us lap-dogs have one hell of a bite yo."

"So I see," Aska eyed the body of the soldier who had been guarding his door, "So you're more versatile than I expected. How disappointing."

"What are you really up to?" Tseng kept the gun aimed right between Aska's eyes, "You came out of nowhere, you disappeared, and then you contacted a member of our personnel. What's your game?"

"This is boring," Aska rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "I've already told you once. I want the world. Your company pretty much rules the earth by itself. That's why I've been trying to take it over."

"Take it over?" Elena butted in, "But I don't understand. You've been trying to build up a rival company, not take over our one."

"That's all just a cover," Aska turned to her, "What I really plan on doing in getting rid of the president, and his executives, and replace them with my own."

"Well I'm sorry to inform you that your plans are over," Tseng was trying not to grin, "I will now escort you to Shin-Ra headquarters, where you will be questioned further, and then disposed of in whichever way the president sees fit. Hopefully it will be painful."

"My apologies," Aska turned his back on them, and began folding up papers and sliding them into a briefcase, "But I'm afraid I will have to decline. I have an important meeting with-" He swung round suddenly, a gun in his hand, "The gravedigger."

The Turks froze. Tseng did not however, lower the gun. Cefra suddenly peered around her. Where the hell was Dirk?

"Drop your weapon sir," Tseng said slowly, carefully, "Or I will be forced to shoot you now, rather than later."

"Fool!" Spat Aska, "Do you really think I won't do this?"

"Oh no, you'll do it," Tseng said brightly, "But you see, I was just giving one of my team a bit of time."

"Huh?" For the first time Aska was stumped, "Time for what?"

Dirk suddenly rose up from behind the desk, and pressed a gun into the back of Aska's head,

"Time for this."

"If you kill me," Aska still did not lower the gun, "You won't be able to prove anything I've done or said. This whole thing will have been a waste of time."

"Wrong sir," Elena opened her suit jacket. There was a tiny microphone pinned to the inside pocket, "President Shinra is on the other end of this line, listening and recording to everything you say. He felt he wanted to be involved in this one personally."

Aska's face transformed into a mixture of hatred and horror.

"You don't have the guts," He sneered at Dirk in a final attempt at surviving, "New recruits never have the guts."

"But sir," Dirk was grinning, "I worked with Cefra for two years. I've got the guts for anything."

And he fired.

There was a very long pause.

"Is it over?" Elena asked shakily.

"It's over," Tseng replied, "The moment we destroy this building and everything in it."

"We can't destroy a whole building with guns," Cefra cried, "That's impossible!"

Rude cleared his throat. In his hands was a metal contraption that seemed to consist mostly of dynamite.

"Yeah Rude!" Reno punched the air, and winced as pain shot up his arm, "Whoa. I'm really not used to free movement yet."

Rude did something to the timer on the bomb, and the number five flashed up on the screen.

"We got five minutes," He said.

"Let's get out of here," Tseng stepped over Aska's body, and they ran for the exit.

They followed the trail of dead soldiers back to the main foyer. They didn't meet any living soldiers, thank god, just a lot of very confused scientists, who stared after them as they ran past. The car was waiting just outside the warehouse.

"You left it here?" Cefra frowned, "What if somebody had seen it?"

"When we drive past it," Elena replied, "Look what they did to _your_ car. They didn't expect anybody to drive right in."

"Dive Rude!" Tseng yelled suddenly. Rude slammed on the accelerator, and the car screamed away from the warehouse. As they passed where Cefra had left her car, she gaped. It had been set alight.

There was a massive explosion. The warehouse shook, and then collapsed in on itself, fire billowing out of every window.

"Good bomb Rude," Reno thumped his friend on the shoulder.

"Flashy."

"So Reno," Cefra smiled at him, "Welcome back to the Turks."

"We found Reno!" Elena squealed like a little girl, punching the air.

"Happy to be back yo!"

"Good," Tseng said, "Because you have sixteen overdue reports, seven presentations to make, an extra file on this incident, a presentation to make to the president, twelve overdue immunisations, and you still haven't drafted that letter of apology explaining to me why you wee hungover on the job two years and seven months ago."


End file.
